Column Pieter Vos: Just a quick fix and off we go!

Is there a nasty (symbolic) bump in the road on your way to your destination? Or a pothole? Then we’re tempted to take a quick little swerve around it, or, if necessary, make an even bigger detour. Anything is better than stopping to think through a real solution and then actually carrying it out.

You see it happening everywhere, whether the problems are big or small; people often choose the path of least resistance. Half measures. Just look at the nitrogen issue. A few years ago, a former government came up with the idea of buying out farmers with the idea; ‘There, done! Problem solved.’ Which is, of course, utter nonsense.

Anyone who works by the method of ‘if I just fix it quickly this way, at least it’s taken care of for now and I can get on with my work,’ falls mercilessly into a second pitfall. Before you know it, you are stuck putting out fires without removing the actual source of the problem. Little by little, you end up digging yourself in deeper and deeper. It becomes especially painful when the person who came up with the quick workaround leaves the company. Then no one even knows anymore what problem that daily fix was ever meant to solve. Or why they are doing what they are doing—sometimes in a ridiculously cumbersome way.

Sometimes these little “fixes” fortunately rise to the surface. For example, when a new software package has to be implemented and it turns out that all those half-baked, deeply ingrained workarounds have only made the original problem worse. I see it happen regularly, especially in service-related processes such as preparing quotes, issuing invoices, and writing up orders. The most painful realization, then, is discovering that you have employees at work who, because of all those detours, are effectively adding nothing to the work process.

Honestly, I do understand this way of working. After all, all of us are already busy enough as it is. Still, it pays to hit pause every now and then. Take the time to properly analyze your problem. And above all, use that outcome to work on real solutions. Stop putting out fires!

Pieter Vos
Consultancy & Interim Management